When you picture Nevada in your mind, you likely conjure the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip. Kohki Yamaguchi thinks of starry skies and donkeys.
The Tokyo-based photographer, 32, has explored 36 countries, snapping breathtaking photos of unpictured places — the spots he loves that don’t typically make it into the tourist guides.
His interest in photography first piqued 10 years ago when he finished university and started taking photos of abandoned buildings. His philosophy around his craft includes noticing “what others might overlook,” his website states, which ties into his travel work.
In 2023, Yamaguchi decided to visit Iraq to take street photographs of people talking to each other and recalled he could “feel the humanity very strongly,” per SWNS.
Other destinations he’s captured include the Chinese countryside and the aforementioned Nevada. “Me and a friend went there just because you can see the stars clearly at night,” he told the outlet. “But surprisingly, more than the stars, we found these random roads had donkeys walking about.”
Yamaguchi said he recently looked at a graph of the world’s most-photographed areas and was shocked to see the places he’s loved didn’t make it on the list. “Those places are not just the least photographed but also just people don’t really consider that as an ideal bucket list destination,” he noted.
Today, his photography has earned him 1.3 million followers on Instagram alone, and he said he’s grateful when people feel inspired to take their own photos after seeing his work. “I truly believe photography can enhance the way we see things and remember them,” Yamaguchi said. “I’m very happy if someone can start photography even if it’s just as a hobby.”
And for all of the traveling he’s done, he most appreciates showing people the special, unpictured places in his native Japan: “Traveling to other countries and comparing them to my own country I realized — I’m not sure how to put it into one word to describe it — but how lucky I am to be from this country.”
Indeed, his favorite photo he’s ever taken is of a whimsical curb in Tokyo that’s painted to resemble a piece of tamago sushi, a sweet Japanese omelet held in place atop rice with a strip of nori. “It’s something you have to be observant to spot,” Yamaguchi said.
Here are the countries he’s visited so far:
- Japan
- U.S.
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Taiwan
- Hong Kong
- China
- Macau
- Thailand
- Singapore
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- Fiji
- England
- France
- Poland
- Italy
- Monaco
- Germany
- Austria
- Netherlands
- Switzerland
- Czech Republic
- Belgium
- Turkey
- Greece
- Peru
- Russia (Sakhalin Island)
- UAE
- Qatar
- Sweden
- Finland
- Iceland
- South Africa
- Iraq
- Norway
This article was originally written by Emily Phillips for SWNS — the U.K.’s largest independent news agency, providing globally relevant original, verified, and engaging content to the world’s leading media outlets.
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